This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Four million people have now been automatically enrolled in workplace pensions – an increase of over 1 million this year or over 6,000 a day on average.

This is the equivalent of enough people to fill 10,000 jumbo jets.

Automatic enrolment began in October 2012, requiring all businesses to enrol eligible staff into a workplace pension and start paying contributions, beginning with the largest employers first.

The next stage of automatic enrolment will see small firms begin to enrol their workers into workplace pensions, with all employers due to be included in the scheme by 2018.

The government’s action to introduce automatic enrolment into workplace pensions was in response to the problem of millions of people in Britain not saving enough for retirement.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said:

Automatic enrolment is a tremendous success with 4 million people now automatically enrolled into workplace pensions – enough to fill 10,000 jumbo jets.

This policy is helping build a fairer society as millions of workers who didn’t have the chance to save in a workplace pension before are now on track for a more comfortable retirement.

And while people have the choice to opt out of workplace pension saving the overwhelming majority are staying in, ensuring a better future for themselves and helping reverse the savings slump in Britain.